Contractor License Requirements

Before you can apply for contractor license in California, you must meet the experience requirements listed below:

• At least 4 years of experience in the trade.*
• Be at least 18 years old. (We recommend 21)
• Social Security number or ITIN (Obtain ITIN number here)

If you don’t have four years of experience you may consider the following options:
1. A four-year college degree will remove two of the four years of required experience.
2. Three years removed from the experience requirements if you have a degree in construction management.
3. Three years removed from the experience requirements if you have a degree in some sort of construction trade.

Please find more information on reducing your four years of experience requirements at WWW.CSLB.CA.GOV.

*The four years of experience should be as a full-time journeyman in the last 10 years. Journey-level experience applies to a person who is an experienced worker, not a trainee and is fully qualified and able to perform a specific trade without supervision or has completed an apprenticeship program either working for a specific trade or College.

Note: Although it is possible to apply for a contractors license at the age of Eighteen, we recommended that you be at least Twenty-one years old due to the experience requirement.